On Tuesday, 21 April, PACE adopted the resolution emphasizing the importance of the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and highlighting concerns over growing intolerance and discrimination during its spring part-session. Based on the report by MP Francesco Verducci, the Assembly’s resolution called on member states to ensure that religious and belief communities can exercise their right to FoRB “without impediment or discrimination, in accordance with Article 9 of the Convention”.
Adopted with 83 votes in favor and 11 against, the resolution highlights that FoRB “includes the right not to hold a religious belief or affiliation.” It also emphasizes that “religious education must be inspired by pluralism and be objective and non-confessional,” echoing a long-standing recommendation by Humanists International. At a time of rising Christian nationalist movements in Europe, the Assembly also called on political leaders to “refrain from any instrumentalisation, manipulation, misrepresentation or other misuse of religion or belief.”
Humanists International engaged with PACE members during the part-session to discuss the text of the resolution and possible amendments. The organization also provided input to rapporteur Francesco Verducci at the drafting stage, which he explicitly highlighted in his report:
In addition to referring to the full variety of religions and beliefs currently present in Europe, I wish to clearly recall that freedom of religion or belief also includes the freedom not to have a religious belief and not to belong to any confession. This is confirmed by numerous judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The right to identify as humanists, atheists, or to profess other non-religious beliefs is therefore protected. Furthermore, as pointed out by Mr Jonas Skorzak of Humanists International, with whom I have exchanged correspondence, a parallel can be drawn with discrimination, referring to discrimination based on religion “or belief” to cover all cases where discrimination is linked not to professing a religious belief but rather to a non-religious belief or the absence of religion.
Unfortunately, the resolution truncates FoRB at times to “freedom of religion,” which is inconsistent with human rights law terminology and might falsely imply that non-religious beliefs are not covered by the right. Humanists International calls on the Assembly, in its future work, to consistently refer to “the right to freedom of religion or belief” and “discrimination based on religion or belief” in line with the accepted terminology.
During the debate on the resolution, parliamentarians from across the political spectrum underlined that the right equally covers humanists, atheists and other non-religious individuals. Multiple speakers also emphasized the role that neutral and objective education about religion or belief can play in combatting intolerance and discrimination. Luz Martínez (Spain) and Wanda Nowicka (Poland), among others, further highlighted the problem of weaponizing FoRB or religious beliefs to discriminate or restrict other rights.
Positively, the PACE part-session also saw the adoption of resolutions calling for a renewed commitment to the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women as well as calling for consent-based legislation on sexual violence.